With yesterday's committee confirmation of Isabel Guzman, Small Business Majority submitted a letter to leadership urging the Senate to swiftly confirm President Biden's nominee for Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Today, Small Business Majority sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to pass a comprehensive and robust COVID-19 relief package. This week kicks off National Small Business Week when just last week, new data revealed small businesses across the country are closing permanently. The consequences of not passing a relief package that includes more funding for small businesses would be catastrophic.
Today, Small Business Majority submitted comments to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regarding proposed rules changes to the Community Reinvestment Act. Some of Small Business Majority's concerns include that these proposed changes would negatively impact underserved entrepreneurs in low and moderate income (LMI) communities and disincentive banks from making qualified smaller-dollar loans that are the lifeblood of small businesses.
Policymakers at all levels, from town councils to the halls of Capitol Hill, emphasize the challenges of small businesses as a key talking point during political debates. But new opinion polling in four states—Illinois, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin—reveals small businesses feel their government officials don’t actually understand their challenges, and they support a wide array of policies to address their needs, some of which might come as a surprise to their elected officials.
Rhetoric blaming government regulations for a lack of small business growth and our stagnant economy has reached a fever pitch. Legislators have introduced bills aimed at curbing regulations, believing this would stimulate our sluggish economy. While lawmakers are right to view small business as the key to economic recovery, small businesses don’t see regulations as their No. 1 concern. Instead, the vast majority of small business owners believe weak demand is the primary problem for their business right now, not regulations.
On Jan. 21, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its Citizens United decision that corporations are free to spend unlimited sums of money in elections. According to opinion polling released by the American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance and Small Business Majority, two-thirds of small business owners see this decision as bad for small business. The poll also shows small business owners overwhelmingly believe corporations have been given too much freedom to spend money that directly influences political campaigns.
Small businesses have become a key weapon in politicians’ arsenals when arguing for practically any policy that has an economic impact. Policies associated with the current tax debate are no exception. Countless rounds of legislative battles have been and will continue to be fought over whether small businesses will be hurt if tax breaks for high income earners are allowed to expire at the end of 2012.
Small businesses are working hard to move their companies, and our economy, beyond the recession. As much as they’ve already accomplished to lift employment levels, these entrepreneurs are not immune to the lingering effects of our disrupted financial market, and they want smart steps taken to address their needs. Contrary to the mantra that slackening Wall Street’s reins will bring economic growth, four out of five small business owners believe Wall Street should be held accountable for the practices that caused the financial crisis, through tougher rules and enforcement.
Small Business Majority's scientific opinion polling shows small business owners often feel disadvantaged by large corporations and the electoral system overall. They believe our current campaign finance system puts large corporations at a competitive advantage and support significant reforms to level the playing field between small employers and large corporations.
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